Paint agitator and dispenser



y 24, 1956 R. G. FORDYCE PAINT AGITATOR AND DISPENSER Original Filed May 12. 1949 INVENTOR are /yea BY M M w/ United States Patent Rufus G. Fordyce, Gleucoe, Ill., assignor to Luminous Processes, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Original application May 12, 1949, Serial No. 92,851, now Patent No. 2,662,470, dated December 15, 1953. ]2)9i'id3g and this application July 10, 1952, Serial No.

7 Claims. (Cl. 222167) My invention relates to a paint agitator and dispenser particularly adapted for but not limited to use with stenciling machines. This application is a division of my earlier application filed May 12, 1949, Serial No. 92,851, now Patent No. 2,662,470, dated December l5, 1953, and entitled Stenciling Machine.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel paint agitator and dispenser which is simple in construction and easily operated.

Another object of my invention is to provide a new and improved paint agitator and dispenser for stenciling machines.

Another object of my invention is to provide a paint agitator and dispenser for luminous paint.

Another object of my invention is to provide a paint dispenser that will accurately control the amount of paint fed therefrom.

Another object of my invention is to provide a paint agitator and dispenser wherein the paint is constantly agitated.

Another object of my invention is to provide a paint dispenser that will safely confine radio-active paint.

Another object of my invention is to provide a readily refillable paint agitator and dispenser.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a manually operable paint dispenser that will release a fixed amount of paint with each operation.

These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent as the following description is read in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Figure l is a front elevational view of a stenciling ma chine with a portion of the housing broken away to show the disposition of my paint agitator and dispenser; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing the constructional details of the paint agitator and dispenser.

Figure 1 shows a stenciling machine 10, particularly adapted to stencil luminous indicia on watch or clock or other dials. A lower sub-unit 12 of the stenciling machine houses a motor for driving the machine and supports a turntable 14 which carries the work to be stenciled. An upper sub-unit 16 of the machine contains mechanisms for operating a squeegee shaft 18, which carries a squeegee 20 (partially shown in Fig. 2) on the lower end thereof. A stencil screen 22 (Fig. 2) is mounted between squeegee 20 and turntable 14.

Mechanisms within lower sub-unit 12 serve to rotate turntable 14 to bring unprinted dials beneath stencil screen 22 and to raise the unprinted dials into contact with the lower face of the stencil screen. The operating mechanisms in the upper sub-unit 16 serve to lower the squeegee toward the screen into a paint applying position, raise the squeegee from the upper face of the screen into a paint spreading position and rotate the squeegee in each of these positions.

The operation of the stenciling machine is as follows: While the turntable 14 is moving unprinted dials beneath screen 22, squeegee 20 is rotated in the paint spreading 2,755,970 Patented July 24, 1956 position to evenly spread paint over the upper face of the screen; the unpainted dials and squeegee are simultaneously moved toward the screen until they assume the stenciling position at which time the squeegee is rotated to force the paint through the screen onto the dials; and the printed dials and squeegee are moved away from the screen. The machine is then in condition for another sequential operation.

In order for a stenciling machine to uniformly stencil, the amount of paint on the stenciling screen must be accurately controlled. Excessive paint on the screen will cause the printed matter to be thicker than necessary and tend to smear. Stenciling with excessive luminous paint is particularly undesirable because of the relatively high cost of luminous paint. In the case of watch dials the cost of luminous paint constitutes a large proportion of the expense in the total cost of the dials. If insuflicient paint is provided on the stencil screen, the stenciled figures or letters will lack definition, and the desired thickness, and therefore will not be acceptable. Thus uniform feeding of paint onto the stencil screen is very important and my novel paint dispenser provides such uniform feeding.

My novel paint dispenser, generally designated 24, is disposed above screen 22 and mounted on a side wall 25 of upper sub-unit 16. The dispenser has a tubular or cylindrical barrel 26, which may, for example, have a capacity of 30 cc. The barrel is closed at its forward end by a threaded plug 28 having a metering bore 30 therein. A valve seat 32 is formed at the outer end of this bore, and a spring-pressed ball check valve 34 carried in a nozzle 36 threaded on the outer end of plug 28 normally closes the end of bore 30. A spring 38 normally urges ball 34 into engagement with valve seat 32 to close communication between cylindrical barrel 26 and the interior of upper sub-unit 16.

The rear end of cylindrical barrel 26 is closed by a cap 40 threaded thereon. A piston rod 42 extends through cap 40 and has a knob 44 on its outer end. A follower piston 46 is mounted on piston rod 42 and slidably disposed within barrel 26. Follower piston 46 is urged in a direction to feed paint to the metering bore 30 by a spring 48 disposed between the follower piston and an abutment 50 on piston rod 42. Since the chamber between follower piston 46 and ball valve 34 will be normally filled with relatively incompressible paint, spring 48 will urge piston rod 42 to the position shown in Fig. 2 which position is considered the retracted position.

Piston rod 42 has a tip 52 of a reduced diameter which is adapted to snugly fit within metering bore 30 when piston rod 42 is moved forward. When piston rod 42 is in the retracted position shown in Fig. 2, paint in the cylindrical barrel 26 in front of follower piston 46 is forced by the latter into metering bore 30 under the action of spring 48. Spring 48 does not exert sufficient force on follower piston 46 to force ball valve 34 away from seat 32, and hence metering bore 30 merely fills with paint. However, when piston rod 42 is moved forward, tip 52 enters metering bore 30 and forces the paint trapped within the metering bore past ball valve 34, and hence into the interior of upper sub-unit 16. A deflector 54 directs the paint ejected from chamber 30 downwardly onto screen 22. Thus paint is ejected from the metering bore by pushing knob 44 toward cap 40. Upon releasing knob 44, spring 48 returns the knob and piston 42 to its initial position, whereupon follower piston 46 refills the metering chamber under the action of spring 48. It will be understood that this spring 48- is of such construction that it is capable of forcing the follower 46 the full length of the barrel 26.

Preferably the metering bore is of sufficient capacity so that five or six drops of paint are forced from the bore each time the piston rod 42 is operated, Ordinarily this will be sufficient for several stenciling operations, although requirements will vary with the total area of the design being covered with paint. The frequency with which a. fixed'quantity of paint is ejected will be readily determinable for the various stenciling operations.

In order to keep paint, and particularly luminous paint, in a state of uniform consistency which is the best condition for use in stenciling, the paint requires constant agitation. My invention provides for constant mechanical agitation of the paint.

As seen in Fig. 2, an inner tubular shell or collar 56 is disposed within and coaxial with an outer tubular shell or collar 58. The outer shell projects through an aperture in side wall 25 of the upper sub-unit, and is welded near its outer end to a flat ring plate 60. Base plate 66 is bolted or otherwise secured to the inner side of wall 25. Since upper sub-unit 16 is sealed against the atmos phere, a ring gasket 62 is nested in a groove in the plate 60 circumseribing the outer shell 53 to provide an airtight seal between the base plate and side wall.

A hearing sleeve 64 is disposed between 'tthe inner and outer shells and is held in position by end flange 66 formed on the outer shell and a snap ring 68 disposed adjacent the rear end of the outer shell. Thus the inner shell 56 is adapted to be rotatably received in the bearing sleeve 64.

Cylindrical barrel 26 is loosely received in the inner shell 56 with the nozzle 36 projecting from the inner end thereof. The cylindrical barrel 26 is held within inner shell 56 by a pair of rubber collets 70 and 72. Collet 70 abuts against an internal shoulder in the inner shell, while collet 72 is spaced from collet 70 by a spacer 74. A hollow thimble or packing nut 76 is threaded into the outer end of inner shell 56 and holds collets 70 and 72 and spacer 74 in position, and may be tightened sufficiently to deform the collets so that the inner shell and cylindrical barrel are frictionally secured against relative movement. Thus when inner shell 56 is rotated in outer shell 58 the cylindrical barrel 26 will be rotated correspondingly.

The inner shell 56 is rotated by a small motor 78, for example, of horse power. This motor is bolted to a bracket 80, which in turn is bolted to the side wall 25. Motor 78 drives a gear 82, preferably through a speed reducer, and this gear is engaged with a gear 84 fixed on inner shell 56. Motor 7 8 will normally be driven throughout the time the stenciling machine is in operation to keep the paint in barrel 26 constantly agitated.

Since luminous paint may be radio-active, it must be confined by the paint dispenser in a safe manner. It'will be noted that my novel paint dispenser confines the paint Within the cylindrical barrel 26, sealed over all but an inner end, which inner end is disposed within the upper sub-unit of the steneiling machine, and within shells 56 and'58 and bearing sleeve 64. Manipulation of the piston 42 will not bring the operator into contact with the aint.

p Another feature of my invention is that the paint dispenser may be readily removed for refilling. This is accomplished by loosening hollow thimble 76 until collets 70 and 72 no longer frictionally engage cylindrical barrel 26. The cylindrical barrel and the parts carried thereby, viz:piston rod 42, plug 28, nozzle 36 and cap 40, may be removed from inner shell 56 by sliding the cylindrical barrel 26 through the rear end of the inner sleeve. The cylindrical barrel may then be refilled by removing cap 40 from the rear end of the barrel and pulling piston rod 42, and the parts carried thereby, out of the end of the barrel, After filling, cap 40 and piston rod 42 are reassembled on barrel 26 and the whole unit replaced within inner shell 56. Re-tightening hollow thimble 76 completes the steps necessary to place the paint dispenser in operative position.

From the foregoing description it should be evident that I have provided a novel paint agitator and dispenser which maintains the paint in a homogeneous condition and permits a fixed quantity of paint to be discharged for each operation. The paint dispenser is so constructed and arranged that it may be readily refilled and safely confines various stenciling paints.

While specific mechanisms have been described for performing specific functions in the paint dispenser and agitator, it will be realized that the invention is not limited to the particular mechanisms described but may assume other forms. Therefore the invention includes all modifications, variations and alternatives coming within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, an outer shell, a bearing sleeve within said outer shell, a rotatable inner shell within said bearing sleeve, means to rotate said inner shell, a cylindrical barrel containing paint and having a metering chamber adjacent one end thereof with an outlet disposed within said inner shell, a valve closingv said outlet, a movable piston extending axially through said barrel and adapted to engage in said metering chamber, said piston being moved from an inoperative position into said metering chamber to segregate a measured charge of paint and discharge it past said valve, a follower slidably mounted on said piston, a cap closing the other end of said barrel, a flange on said piston abutting against said cap when said piston is in its inoperative position, a spring mounted between said follower and flange to urge said piston to its inoperative position and urge said follower toward said chamber to fill the chamber with paint, a resilient collet mounted between said inner shell and barrel, and a thimble abutting against said collet adapted to releasably distort said collet to provide frictional driving connection between said barrel and inner shell;

2. In a device of the class described, an upstanding side wall having an opening therein, a dispenser supported by said wall and projecting through said opening, said dispenser comprising a barrel having piston and cylinder means to eject paint, the improvement comprising an outer shell mounted in said opening, a bearing sleeve within said outer shell, a rotatable inner shell within said bearing sleeve, means to rotate said inner shell, said barrel being disposed within said inner shell, and releasable means between said inner shell and barrel to provide frictional driving connection therebetween.

3. In a device of the class described, an upstanding side wall having an opening therein, a dispenser supported by said Wall and projecting through said opening, said dis penser comprising a barrel having piston and cylinder means to eject paint, the improvement comprising an outer shell mounted in said opening and having a cylindrical inner bearing surface, a rotatable inner shell within said cylindrical bearing surface, said barrel being mounted within said inner shell and adapted to rotate therewith, and means to rotate said inner shell.

4. In a device of the class described, an upstanding side wall having an opening therein, a dispenser supported by said wall and projecting through said opening, said dispenser comprising a barrel having piston and cylinder means to eject paint, the improvement comprising an outer member mounted in said opening and having a cylindrical inner bearing surface, said barrel having a cylindrical outer bearing surface and being rotatably mounted within said outer member with said bearing surface in contact, and means to rotate said barrel.

5. In a device of the class described, an outer shell having a cylindrical inner bearing surface, a rotatable inner shell within said cylindrical bearing surface, means to rotate said inner shell, a barrel within said inner shell,

said barrel containing paint and havingpiston and cylinder-means to'eject paint from said barrel, and releasable means between said inner shell and barrel to provide frictional driving connection therebetween.

6. In a device of the class described, an outer shell having a cylindrical inner bearing surface, a barrel having a cylindrical outer bearing surface, said barrel being rotatably mounted within said outer shell with said bearing surfaces in contact, said barrel containing paint and having piston and cylinder means to eject paint from said barrel, and means to rotate said barrel.

7. In a device of the class described, an outer shell, :1 bearing sleeve within said outer shell, a rotatable inner shell member within said bearing sleeve, means to rotate said inner shell member, a barrel member within said inner shell member, said barrel member containing paint and having piston and cylinder means to eject paint from said barrel member, a resilient collet mounted between said members, and a thimble adjustably mounted one one of said members and disposed between said members in abutting engagement with said collet and adapted to releasably distort said collet to provide frictional driving connection between said members.

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